Recently, the "conflict between clerks and customers" incident of Manner Coffee has continued to rush to the hot search.
Several incidents exposed have a similar process: the barista, who has been busy all the time, finally loses control of his emotions at the last moment and breaks out into a fierce conflict in the face of constant demands, complaints and even accusations from customers.
Of course, there are many problems behind this, one of which has triggered widespread discussion is how much mental burden high-intensity and long-term work pressure will bring to a person.
The English philosopher Russell said, "Working hard is the morality of a slave, and modern society does not need slavery." He strongly discouraged the overwork of people in modern society, and even suggested that "the working hours should be reduced to 4 hours and everything will be fine".
Unfortunately, we have found no direct psychological research evidence to definitively support this view (😭). But the good news is that many "replacements" have been found: some conclusive evidence that we may not really need that much time to work.
Today we're going to talk about: How can changes in working hours affect our mental health? How many hours a week is optimal for mental health benefits?
We found these 4 things:
01
If you only work 4 days a week: both employees and bosses are likely to be happier
In some developed countries, attempts to reduce the number of working weeks have already begun.
Back in 2021, Iceland started a large-scale trial of a "4-day workweek". In the four years from 2015 to 2019, more than 2,500 employees worked from 40 hours per week to 35~36 hours, and the wages were the same.
The results found that the vast majority of people experienced significant (and sustained) improvements in mental health and overall well-being without taking a pay cut: they reported perceived reduced stress, less burnout, improved physical and mental health, and generally felt more positive, happier, and more energetic at work.
Not only has personal happiness improved, but the productivity of most positions has not been affected, and some have even improved! Participants said that the reduced working hours allowed them to focus on exercising and socializing, which improved their work performance.
Subsequently, more and more countries have joined this trend. Ireland launched a six-month four-day workweek trial in 2022; Spain has also launched a three-year trial of a 32-hour workweek as part of the country's economic recovery from the pandemic.
An April 2022 psychological study showed that reducing working hours may have a positive impact on specific health outcomes, especially reduced stress levels and improved sleep, while wages remain the same and total workload does not increase. （Voglino G, Savatteri A, Gualano MR et al.,2022）
▷ "A Man Named Ove Decided to Die"
02
Productive 8 hours a day? Very few people can actually do it
I asked my colleagues around me, and they all said, "I can't do it." What? Have you ever done it? Hold on for a full 8 hours?! Okay, just be happy!
A 2016 survey of 1,989 office workers in the UK showed that the average Briton worked less than three hours a productive day. To be exact: 2 hours and 53 minutes.
What are you doing the rest of the time? The survey made a list based on the respondents' responses:
◍ Browsing social media – 47%◍ Reading news sites – 45%◍ Discussing activities outside of work with colleagues – 38%◍ Making hot drinks – 31%◍ Smoking breaks – 28%◍ Texting/texting – 27%◍ Snacking – 25%◍ Cooking in the office – 24%◍ Calling a partner/friend – 24%◍ Looking for a new job – 19% (presumably to repeat the same habit in a different office)
This is just a survey. But there's plenty of evidence that office work isn't as productive as we think.
This is not only reasonable, but also in line with our innate nature. Malissa Clark, a psychologist at the University of Georgia in the United States, says that it is "impossible" for humans to focus on work every minute of an eight-hour day:
"If we're smart enough, we should really listen to the researchers who work in the field: there's no reason why we have to stick to a 9-to-5 job.
We should ask ourselves: How much time can I concentrate on a task? Once we've figured this out – let's say, half an hour or 45 minutes is the time we're really able to stay productive and focused – then schedule breaks for the workday in those intervals. There is a lot of literature research on the effectiveness of taking appropriate breaks during the workday, and some may be as simple as taking time out of work to take a walk."
▷ "I, get off work at the end of the day"
03
People who work 8 hours a week are likely to be just as happy as people who work 40 hours
Psychologists believe that having a paid job can lead to higher well-being and more beneficial mental health outcomes than unemployment (Fryer, 1986, Jahoda, 1981&1982, Warr, 1987).
A job can provide many beneficial characteristics such as structured time, social contact, shared goals, and identity. And during unemployment, these underlying psychosocial traits diminish or disappear (Gershuny, 1994).
A 2019 study published in Social Sciences & Medicine found that for most people who had previously experienced unemployment or a precarious, inactive employment situation, working as little as 8 hours a week after re-employment was enough to regain the happiness that comes with employment.
Yes, you read that right, it's 8 hours a week!
And their psychological efficacy levels and well-being no longer increase with more hours worked. In short, people who work 8 hours a week are likely to be just as happy and feel that their contribution to society is just as meaningful as those who work 40 hours a week.
The researchers tell us that there is a significant difference in mental health and well-being between those who have a paid job and those who are unemployed, but not for those who work different hours of work in a week.
▷ "I, get off work at the end of the day"
04
Working only 4 hours a day, maybe more efficient?!
In In Praise of Idleness, Russell depicts a world in which material needs can be met by working only four hours a day: a world in which some people do not have to work to death, and others do not have to go hungry because they are unemployed; Everyone has time to develop their own preferences, rather than just opting for a passive pastime after a busy day.
In his view, human beings are to live happily and unleash their full potential, not by working harder or smarter, but by harnessing the extraordinary power of leisure.
Alex Soojung-KimPan, author of The Scientific Break, came to a similar conclusion after carefully examining the working habits of such famous figures in history, such as Darwin, Dickens, and Bergman:
"If you look closely at their daily lives, they only spend a few hours a day doing what we think is the most important work. The rest of the time, they either climb mountains, take naps, go for walks with friends, or just sit and think."
That said, the key to their creativity secrets is not only to understand how they work, but also to understand how they rest.
Here's a typical day in Darwin (FYI):
◍ After a morning walk and breakfast, Darwin arrived at 8 a.m. in his study and worked for an hour and a half;
◍ 9:30 He reads the morning mail and writes letters;
◍ 10:30 Darwin began to work more seriously, sometimes going to the aviary or greenhouse for experiments;
◍ At noon, he will announce that "I have finished the day's fruitful work" and begin a long walk; （
）
◍ When returning more than an hour later, Darwin eats lunch and replies to more letters;
◍ At 3 p.m. he will take a nap;
◍ He would get up after an hour, take another walk, and return to the study until 5:30 for dinner with his wife and family.
▷ "The Genius of Darwin"
A survey of scientists' work and life in the 50s of the last century yielded similar results. Raymond Van Zelst and Willard Kerr, professors of psychology at the Illinois Institute of Technology in the United States, surveyed their colleagues' work habits and schedules, then plotted a graph between the time they spent in the office and the number of articles they published.
The results are not as straight as one might think: the longer a scientist works, the more articles are published. This is not the case.
▷ Van Zelst 和 Kerr 的研究图表曲线
The data presents an M-shaped curve. The curve rises sharply at the beginning and peaks between 10~20 hours of work per week. Then the curve goes down:
▨ Scientists who work 25 hours in the workplace are not more productive than scientists who work 5 hours a week; ▨ And scientists who work 35 hours a week are only half as productive as their colleagues who work 20 hours a week.
Then, the curve rises again, but to a lesser extent: those researchers who work 50 hours a week in the lab were able to shake off the 35-hour trough: the researchers speculate that the 50-hour rise was mostly focused on "physical research," most of which was spent operating machines and occasionally taking measurements.
After that, everything went downhill: researchers who worked more than 60 hours a week were the least productive.
05
"Reasonable fishing" does not harm work efficiency, but also benefits physical and mental health
I don't want to use this article to make everyone pin all their hopes on changes in the external environment. Rather, I want to tell everyone that they are allowed to have the right to "proper rest" or "reasonable fishing".
It's perfectly fine to take a break once in a while, and in fact, reducing your working hours and taking regular breaks can increase your productivity and make no mistake as a woodcutter.
At the same time, under the existing conditions, do some small things that you can do for yourself and can "improve your work status": for example, if you also work 8 hours a day, set up a "flexible working time" for yourself: work for 90 minutes, take a 20-minute break, have a snack, go for a walk or take a nap.
Remember to make good use of your breaks. Psychological research also points out that it is only really effective when the reduction in working hours is accompanied by improved healthy habits, which are the main reason for the real improvement of overall health and quality of life. （Voglino G, Savatteri A, Gualano MR et al.,2022）
Russell's "Four-Hour Work Initiative" has the second half:
"It is advisable to reduce the working time to four hours, not to say that time outside of work must be wasted on purely boring activities. Suffice it to say that a person who works four hours a day should have the right to the necessities and basic comforts of life, and to spend the rest of his time as he pleases. It is essential for any social system to move education forward, and one of the main goals of education is to develop taste in people so that they can use their leisure more wisely."
▷ "I, get off work at the end of the day"
Of all the moral qualities, a good nature is what this world needs the most.
But good nature comes from a sense of relaxation and security, not from a hard life.
– Russell
(You may not want your boss to see this article, but you can repost it for more bosses to see)
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bibliography
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Voglino G, Savatteri A, Gualano MR, Catozzi D, Rousset S, Boietti E, Bert F, Siliquini R. How the reduction of working hours could influence health outcomes: a systematic review of published studies. BMJ Open. 2022 Apr 1; 12(4):e051131. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2021-051131. Kamerāde, Senhu Wang, Brendan Burchell et al.,A shorter working week for everyone: How much paid work is needed for mental health and well-being? Social Science & Medicine,Volume 241,2019,112353,https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2019.06.006.【美】亚历克斯·索勇-金·庞著，赵富强译，《科学休息：迅速恢复精力的高效休息》，2021年2月，中信出版集团作者：鸟人责编：寒冰
Cover picture source: Beijing News Shell Finance